Patrick Dangerfield of the Crows breaks through the midfield during the match against the Eagles. Photo: Getty Images

The chance of the Crows slipping in to the vacant eighth spot on the AFL table was killed off when Carlton beat Port Adelaide by one point at AAMI Stadium earlier yesterday.

One point! Surely the Power didn't lose on purpose.

But despite knowing their fate, the Crows impressed in handing the Eagles their ninth home loss of the season – also their biggest of the season.

It was the lowest home crowd (29,416) for the Eagles since it played the Crows in round 15 of the 2010 when the visitors won by 22 points.

Advertisement

The 10-goal losses in the previous two weeks would not have had them full of confidence either.

The Eagles had seven of their very best 22 missing last night, unfortunately many from the midfield.

The Crows had several missing also, but still had Scott Thompson, Richard Douglas and Pat Dangerfield to run amok through the middle of the ground.

The good sign for the Crows was that their youngsters impressed also, with four first-year players – seven with less than 25 games.

Brad Crouch, in his 14th game, collected 29 possessions and took the margin to 36 points in the second minute of the third term with the first of his two goals.

Mitchell Grigg kicked two first-half goals.

The main interest in the game pre-match was Josh Kennedy and the Coleman Medal race.

He started the night with 60 goals, eight shy of leader, Collingwood's Travis Cloke.

His three games prior, against Essendon, Geelong and Collingwood had returned just one goal (against the Pies in round 20). He finished the season with 60 ... and so was a part of the problem. With Jack Darling pulled from the squad before the game with a suspected hamstring issue someone needed to kick goals.

Josh Hill was a chance, but he didn't even touch the ball in the first term – Kennedy only had one disposal.

They had just 0.3 from nine inside 50s in the first term and had to wait for usual defender Ash Smith to run on to a Dean Cox thump forward from a ball-up nine minutes into the second term to get their first.